Waiheke Island: Oops

Handsome Man In Hat In Jungle

I realized  that I never got to the "cathedral" part of the last post's title. I'll get to that. But first, check out the Irishman in the jungle, wearing hand knit cap. What do you think?

By the way, if you want to leave a comment, please do. Blogger doesn't make this obvious, but if you scroll to the bottom of any post, there's a "no comments" link in orange. If you click on it, a comment box will open up. So clear, right? And of course I would love to hear from you guys!  But. I digress.

We were so lucky on our last day. Cliff, our Airbnb host, offered to let us use the car after we checked out at 11a. So generous. Anyway, we had a pretty complete day of touring about, eating lunch, taking a very wet beach hike, and then returning the car, with Cliff getting us to the ferry by 4p. It also turned out that aside from being a spot of local color, Cliff is a photographer, and gave us a published book of his photos. Amazing.

We hiked along a trail in the jungle for quite some time, then took a spur loop called the Cacades loop. It was so breathtaking, and we didn't see another soul the whole time we were hiking. I've been thinking a lot about organized religion here lately. Flora (our Grand Daughter) was just baptized this past weekend, and as I looked down into this jungle pool with a stream flowing into it, all I could think was "Cathedral".  I think other trampers have had similar experiences. Sorry the video will likely take a while to download. I hope it's worth it! I did two sweeps of the IPhone. . one low and one high.

Oneroa Beach view

 It was close to 1p by the time we exited the Jungle, so we headed to Oneroa (the largest town on the island), and found a table for lunch at an ocean side cafe. Honestly, I feel like we eat and drink as much as we hike. We could see Oneroa Beach from the table, and figured out that there was also a Little Oneroa Beach that we could hike to along the coast.

Oneroa beach view 2

Have I mentioned how quickly the weather can change here? Never mind the tides? Anyway, sated and ready for another tramp, we headed to the beach. The hike we were taking is dependent on the tide being out (tides are huge here. . . 30 or 40 feet!), and it was just going out, so we found ourselves skipping on rocks over the incoming and receding waves. Good thing my ankle was better!

Then, a storm swept in with amazing speed. I was wearing a raincoat, but John was completely exposed, and we were both without umbrellas. We scrambled up underneath an overhanging tree on the beach edge, and watched the storm let loose. Lots of water, not much wind.

Truth be told, watching the rain is one of my favorite activities. The weather continued to be mild (only a 5F or so variation the whole time we were there. . .60-65F), so we were dry and warm. I actually shot a video of the waves and the rain, but figure you've probably had enough of my videos for one blog. . .

Oneroa beach view halfway through hike

Oneroa beach storm: watching and dry

Honestly. It was all so romantic and sweet. 

Visiting Friend

We headed back to the city, took our bus Home (which has a much more expansive definition these days), and prepared for another week as visitors in this place.

You may have deduced that we have really loved New Zealand thus far. We did have great things happen in Australia, but New Zealand has felt more welcoming and comfortable on all levels than Australia did. That is not to trash Australia, but just to make the observation. We met a high school friend of Sarah's for a beer on one of our first evenings here. A Kiwi friend of his joined us, and when I commented on how much I liked what I had seen so far in New Zealand (particularly all of the local products), he commented that he thought that Australia wanted to be America, and New Zealand didn't. New Zealand, in other words, was happy being who they were even if it meant being a small player on the world stage. It had a ring of truth to to it.

Oneroa beach storm: wider sweep